Purdue Holds Off Penn State in Sloppy Affair
By Keith Carrell (@BoilerColts)
ISL Purdue Columnist
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — #12 Purdue remained perfect at home with a win over Penn State Saturday afternoon, 76-64, but the Boilermakers began lethargically and struggled taking care of the ball throughout the game. The Nittany Lions, coming off of a big win against Michigan earlier in the week, kept the momentum going early before succumbing to Mackey Arena.
Draw up a start as poor as you can think for Purdue and that’s exactly how this tilt began for the Boilers. Purdue’s first five possessions had a result of four turnovers and a missed layup from Matt Haarms. On the other end of the floor, Myles Dread sank a pair of triples and Lamar Stevens added a bucket to score the game’s first eight points. Nearly three minutes would elapse before Carsen Edwards would get Purdue’s second field goal attempt in the air, a jumper from the lane to kick off scoring for the guys in gray.
The struggles had already begun, though, and they would continue throughout the opening half for Purdue. The Boilers committed eleven turnovers in the first 13 minutes which allowed Penn State to maintain a 19-to-twelve lead before Purdue, namely Sasha Stefanovic, began to settle the home team. Stefanovic came off the bench and provided an instant spark for Purdue to give the Boilers their first lead. Over the span of about three minutes, he was fouled shooting a three from the left corner (he sank two of the three freebies), took a charge from Dread, stole the ball from Jamari Wheeler and advanced it to Grady Eifert for an open layup on the break to tie the game at 19, and then grabbed the rebound off of a miss from Kyle McCloskey the possession that Nojel Eastern made a layup to give Purdue a 21-19 lead with 6:47 left in the first.
The game would stay close through the end of the period as Purdue took a 33-30 lead into the break — a number of significance on this day in Mackey Arena. As part of the NBA All Star break, a number of Purdue alumni were in attendance, including the day’s honoree, E’Twaun Moore, who once donned the 33 for Purdue. Moore, who now wears 55 (a nod to his draft position) for the New Orleans Pelicans, was honored with a bobblehead given away to the first 2,000 fans through the gates (which took less than ten minutes to give away) and was introduced during halftime. Typically a player introduced at halftime will take the microphone and speak to the crowd a bit, but in true “Smooge” fashion, Moore allowed the PA announcer to do the talking for him and explain the posse with him. The announcer explained the group standing with Moore were students from East Chicago who had been selected to join him on the grounds of academic achievement and leadership as part of his foundation. The announcer would continue to describe the wonderful things Moore’s foundation was doing before Moore gave the crowd a final wave as he headed toward the tunnel.
“There were 19 turnovers in a 45 minute game at Penn State and now there’s 22 turnovers at halftime (and 39 for the game) between two teams.”
-Purdue Head Coach, Matt Painter
The second half began and Purdue appeared to have its turnover woes behind it as the Boilers were clicking offensively. In the first five minutes of the half, Purdue reeled off 17 points to Penn State’s four, ballooning their lead to 16. In that time, the Boilers did not commit a single turnover, but forced three and were playing stellar defensively. The Boilers kept it going and after making only two of their six three point attempts in the opening stanza, connected on six of their nine to start the second half as the opened a 61-44 lead midway through the period.
Whether it was pressure from the Nittany Lions or the wheels just coming off of the offensive engine that Purdue had found, things turned quickly against the Boilers. Penn State would score the next twelve points and narrow the margin to five with 4:28 remaining in the game. Fans began to get visibly restless and Purdue didn’t appear to have an answer offensively that didn’t result in a turnover.
Purdue managed to muster enough offense, primary from the charity stripe, to score eight straight and rebuild their lead to 13 with two and a half minutes to go. The margin was too great for Penn State to overcome and the Boilers would hold on for a twelve point win.
“I think the one thing is the efficiency of your play. We have the ability not to turn the ball over, we have the ability to play hard, we have the ability to play together and that’s the beauty of basketball; (our) sum is better than the parts.”
-Painter
Working against Penn State was its foul trouble. It had a number of players working on borrowed time in the game which restricted how effective they could be. John Harrar was the first victim to take the long, permanent trek to the bench as he fouled out with 5:30 left in the game. Mike Watkins subbed in for Harrar, having four fouls of his own, and Watkins would pick up his fifth with 3:54 left on the clock. While Stevens and Josh Reaves were able to finish the game, each had picked up four fouls of their own.
Purdue was also undermanned for the game as Trevion Williams was under the weather. Williams suited up, but only managed to play two minutes in the first half before sitting for the remainder of the game. Haarms started in place of the ill center. Edwards had to deal with his own foul trouble as he picked up two in the first half before Stefanovic provided a spark and picked up another pair in the second half which caused Edwards to only play 29 minutes in the game.
Next up:
Away: Indiana on Tuesday, 2/19 (7 pm, ESPN2)
Away: Nebraska on Saturday, 2/23 (4 pm, BTN)
Home: Illinois on Wednesday, 2/27 (8:30 pm, BTN)
Quick Hits:
Mackey Arena was sold out for the sixth straight game (eighth total for the season) and has already sold out the final two games as well… Joining Moore as notable alumni in the stand, Caleb Swanigan, Vincent Edwards, and newly minted Super Bowl winner Ja’Whaun Bentley received large ovations in the first half when they were displayed on the video board… Purdue committed a season-high 23 turnovers, Edwards had seven and Eastern had six for Purdue… Penn State struggled with turnovers too, committing 16 of their own, including eight from Stevens… Purdue out-rebounded Penn State 33-25… Starting in place of Williams, Haarms had 18 points, six rebounds, and two blocks… The two blocks tied Haarms with Isaac Haas for seventh all time at Purdue with 124… Eifert continued to light up the hustle boards with seven points, eight boards, three steals, and two assists without committing a turnover is 29 minutes… When Purdue wasn’t turning the ball over, they were efficient offensively as they made over 50% of their shots at all three levels: 22-42 FG, 9-16 from three, and 23-28 from the line… Purdue actually had more points off of turnovers with 24 to Penn State’s 17… Purdue had seven different players make at least one free throw… After the Nittany Lions shot a solid 5-15 from three in the first half, they missed all nine attempts in the second half… The win marked the 15th in a row at Mackey, 13th during this season… The win also allows Purdue to keep pace in the race for the Big Ten title, the Boilers are a half game behind Michigan, but have the same number of losses (three) as the Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans — Maryland is in fourth with five losses.
